Artwork copyright Michael Lindenmeyer. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Michael Lindenmeyer. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

The Golden Carp, 1992

Michael Lindenmeyer
American (born 1950)

Location: Richard Gordon Elementary, Kingston

About the Artwork

The Golden Carp is a collaged drawing by artist Michael Lindenmeyer. It is part of his body of artworks inspired by the landscape of the Columbia River Gorge. He composed this piece to highlight different scenes both above and below the water. He notes, "The Golden Carp could be an escaped Koi (those ornamental Japanese fish), finding its freedom at last in the big river. But will it be able to live in the wild after a pampered existence in aquarium or fishpond? More likely, the carp is a dream/vision. It represents an element of beauty or even spirituality: the humblest of finny critters transformed into a higher state, even among the crumbling debris and cast off junk of our civilization."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with North Kitsap School District.

About the Artist

Michael Lindenmeyer is an Oregon and Olympia, Washington-based painter. He spent many summers in the 1980s in the Victorian seaport of Port Townsend, Washington where he rented a studio above the Town Tavern. His artworks tell mythic stories about the West Coast landscape and the consequences of industrialization.